SANKOFA • CALIFORNIA
Artist Proof 45 • 495 Limited Edition
By the time I reached the top of the hill, my camera and gear felt heavier with every step, as if each mile had added weight not just to my body, but to the moment itself. I framed the shot before even lifting the lens, the lone tree, dead yet unfallen, carved into the horizon with a stark elegance no living thing could imitate. The sky burned a deep, defiant red as the sun sank low, glowing with the richness of an African sunset, casting light that felt both foreign and ancestral. A warm breeze moved through the grass, subtle but constant, like a breath guiding my timing. I adjusted my settings slowly, deliberately, aware that this wasn’t just about capturing light, but about honoring it. The tree, though lifeless, held presence its form shaped by years I could not see, yet somehow needed to understand to take the photograph honestly.
As I pressed the shutter, the word Sankofa settled into my mind, not just as a thought, but as a method. To learn from the past to inform the future. Every image I’ve ever taken, every mistake in exposure, every missed moment, had led me here, teaching my eyes how to see this exact scene. The miles I walked weren’t just distance; they were a return, refining instinct, reconnecting with patience, remembering why I started. Through the viewfinder, the dead tree became more than a subject; it became a lesson. What remains still matters. What came before shapes what comes next. And as the light faded and I lowered the camera, I knew this image wasn’t just something I captured, it was something I carried forward, a reminder that to move ahead as a photographer and in life, I must always be willing to look back.
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